March 31, 2012

After another great meal served by my hosts (in candlelight because the villages supply of gasoline for the generator had run out the night before), we settled down for sleep (me under the mosquito net). I slowly fell asleep. I’m getting too old to sleep on hard surfaces!

And then it rained…Hard…REAL HARD! The way it only rains in the tropics where the heavens open up and there is nothing but sheets of water in the sky. With a tin roof…its quite deafening. By the next morning, the road was pure mud and we decided to head back to town early in order to give ourselves plenty of time.

Never was I happier to be sitting in a tricked out Mitsubishi 4x4 with a damn good driver. Particularly those moments when the car was sideways, sliding downhill on wet clay.

Here’s Hans and Eskul, the driver and assistant:

I had a great time in Klasuat. I think the government of the Sorong Regency have a wonderful opportunity here. Klasuat has a beautiful display tree for the Lesser Birds of Paradise very close to Sorong City, the gateway used by most tourists for diving the Raja Ampat. With a little investment in infrastructure, particularly the road and a formal homestay facility in Klasuat, this would provide an attractive reason for tourists to spend an extra day or so in the area. As it stands right now, one needs to be a bit adventurous to experience this…which is unfortunate. The birds are a 3 minute hike from the road.

March 29, 2012

The primary reason for coming specifically to Klasuat Village is its proximity to Sorong City (about an hour and a half) and that just 1km (that’s 0.6 of a mile to us ‘merikuns)outside of town there’s this tree where anywhere from 3 to 6 Lesser Birds of Paradise gather every morning and evening to sing and do their dance. I didn’t shoot any video, so you’ll have to re-watch Planet Earth to see what a BoP dance is all about. Now believe me…these suckers are waaay high in the tree and my neck is still sore! Also, even though I shot these pics with a 400mm lens, I still had to crop the heck out of them in Photoshop to get these closeups (thank you Canon 5dMkII megapixels!).

This is what I did for two mornings and evenings (that’s my lens he’s using):

March 28, 2012

I get picked up at 2pm on Sunday (after church) and behold my ride into the wilderness, a tricked out 4x4 Mitsubishi pickup truck which came with a driver and driver’s assistant. With my guide, Rudie, that makes four of us..a bit more crowded than I anticipated. However, I was soon to be VERY thankful for an experienced driver behind the wheel. The road to Klasuat..well..sucks. It’s a rutted out dirt road that gets extremely muddy and slick when it rains, which is…always!

A couple of shots of the village:

I stayed in the second home on the right. My hosts, Barry and Rachel cleared the living room floor for Rudie and I to sleep on a mat and I was able to set up my mosquito net. I likened the experience to backwoods camping…with a tin roof over your head. Here’s a shot of the village church:

This is Lawrence, the head of the village, and his three children:

The hospitality of the village was incredible. They cooked up vegetables and rice for our meals, guided us to the birds and were just generally nice company.

They’re picking me up in a couple of hours to go to the Dewi Nusantara. It will be quite a contrast from my accommodations the last few days. Sometimes its easy to forget that the luxury resorts and boats established to accommodate tourists are not “reality”, but purely a fantasy world established to attract spoiled westerners to a naturally beautiful place that we like to call “paradise.” It represents a much harsher reality for those who live here.

Its important that we come, share our fascination with the vistas and creatures the locals would otherwise exploit and take for granted and spend our excess cash. Otherwise, nothing logically keeps the villager from chopping down a bird of paradise display tree for cooking wood or throwing a stick of dynamite onto a reef to feed his village.

This place is raw. With little commercialization in terms of tourism. Its part of what makes Papua and Raja Ampat unique. Stunning natural beauty with minimal tourist density. However, I think that if we are to “protect” the natural beauty of this place, unfortunately, more tourist commercialization must occur. It just doesn’t contribute broadly enough to the well-being of the locals right now.

Anyway, I’ll have a few “auto-posts” going up while I’m on the boat. Some bird pics and scenes from the village. Otherwise…see ya in 12 days!

March 27, 2012

I’ll post a detailed trip report once I get back. In summary, my week on Pulau Pef was fantastic and I couldn’t have asked for a better opening chapter to my time in Indonesia. The resort was beautiful, with luxurious bungalows and excellent facilities. The dive operations were well run with a really nice camera room. And the food was fantastic.

March 25, 2012

Often during there a dive there is a lull between subjects. This is a great time to sit back and look at the “big picture” and just enjoy the activity on the reef all around you. But sometimes, I like to take close-up shots that highlight some of the textures and colors of the reef. I like to call these “wallpaper” photos:

March 24, 2012

It’s a poverty-stricken, polluted town that sits like an island between a sea of jungle and the ocean.

There is a palpable underlying racial/religious tension between the native (Christian) Papuans and the (Muslim) Javanese migrants who have settled here for work.

However, I felt quite safe when venturing about.

Most foreign tourists never go beyond the gates of the 2-3 enclave hotels that cater to them. The locals seemed genuinely shocked to see me walking about. It probably helped that I’m a big, blonde sunburned white dude.

The people are incredibly warm and friendly.

When I ventured out, I felt like a cross between a rock star and circus freak. “Meester..meester..hallo!” was called out to me by children, adults, passing motorcyclists, groups of workmen in the back of trucks, etc. I would instantly become the center of attention, wherever I went. Several men randomly walked up to me and shook my hand and asked me where I was from. The kids were fun. Very proud of the six or seven english words in their vocabulary.

Last night I went to dinner (and a show) with Rudie, who will be my driver/interpreter/guide for my birdwatching trip into the jungle. I usually don’t have the guts to try street food when traveling, but Rudie knew the place, so what the hell…3 bucks for a grilled fish and some rice isn’t bad.

After dinner, we went to see a practice for a choral/dance group (60 people strong) that will be coming to the United States for the World Choir Games this summer. They were fantastic and it was a special treat to meet them.

Rudie hadn’t rented the truck yet, so last night I did one of the scariest things I’ll experience on this trip…ride on the back of a small motorcycle through Sorong. No..we did not pop a wheelie the whole way (ala Cannonball Run)! Those of you who have been in Asian (or Latin American, or African) cities know what I mean. Its like being part of a giant swarm of smog-spewing bees.

I’m off to the jungle for a 2 days. Hopefully I come back with some cool bird/wildlife shots. I've set some more diving posts to upload automatically over the next couple of days.

In this part of the world, pygmy seahorses are one of the great joys of diving. But they are almost always found on sea fans that are known to house pygmies by knowedgeable guides with keen eyes My eyes are not so keen, but nevertheless, I FOUND ONE! On a random sea fan. A half inch of perfect camouflage.

I think I’ll name it George.

I feel I might have bruised my guide’s ego by finding George on a fan that he only glanced at. Every sea fan on each subsequent dive was inspected thoroughly!